In a season dominated by the club's New Guard--in terms of games played and boards topped--it was the vaunted Old Guard that crested the ridge on the final day of play yesterday at our 11th Weasel Pyle in Wayne. Carrying the colors were Eric Brown, Christian Kline and Matt Sundstrom, veterans of our first, third and ninth games, respectively.

Here's how the games went down on a beautiful summer day at Castle Brown, Eric's stately home in bucolic Wayne.

Game No. 308, In the Two-Story Library

This one ended by draw vote in Spring 1908 in the following center counts:

Afterward, it was fun to watch Bryan Pravel commend Eric for his play. The new guys still haven't run into everyone yet, so there's often a sense of wonder when they encounter one of the longtime vets. We're not all as active as we'd like to be, that's for sure, but there are a lot of players in the club who can play.

Game No. 309, In the Dining Room

This one ended by draw vote in Spring 1907 in the following center counts:

Kline was in fifth place going into the game. He was in second when it ended. Sundstrom, meanwhile, needed a result to crack the Royale field, something he's failed to do only once before. With this board top, he climed into sixth place.

Last night's final Red Wednesday of the season was, paradoxically, as typical as it was atypical. On the one hand, Brandon Fogel ran his board-topping total to a gaudy 6.5. He now has a real shot at tying, if not breaking, Peter Lokken's longstanding record of 7.5 board tops in a season. That one has held since the 2010-11 season.

On the other hand, we had two new recruits, which is something of a rarity in this down year for new blood. But even more significant, both were female, which is as unusual as it is welcome. Not for lack of effort, our progress at diversifying the player base has been inconsistent at best.

Back in November 2013, we had three female players in a game at the Lion. It seemed we were on our way to fielding the mythical Board of the Valkyries. But that turned out to be our highwater mark (although we duplicated the feat a few months later). Two of those players moved away, and we lost steam.

But that's ancient history. What matters now is that Staci Slattery, who works with Ali Adib, and Shelley Hoover, who used to work with my wife, Meghan, played last night in Game No. 307, both for the first time ever, and both seemed to enjoy the game. It would not surprise me at all to see one or both at a future bar game.

The game ended by time limit after the Fall 1905 turn in the following center counts:

Surely a better title exists for the recap of yesterday's Undercard game at the Weasel Royale club championship, but as your faithful correspondent had his hands full trying to win the Royale, this one will have to do.

The Kevins are for the two Kevin O'Kell(e)ys, who for the first time ever played on the same board. That would have been far more enteraining for onlookers Sam Bassett and Warren "Goz" Goesle if more people referred to the other players by name instead of country. Alas.

Double alas, the game went much better for Kevin the Elder. On the car ride to Dan Burgess' home in Downers Grove--where, for the eighth straight year, the Royale took place--Kevin the Younger confessed that he had been watching the HBO series Oz.

"The prison rape scenes are disturbing," he said.

"Yah," I retorted, "well don't let that happen to you in the Undercard."

Triple alas, and typical of a 15-year-old, he didn't listen.

My Kevin drew Russia, a tough country to defend, and his neighbors hammered him. I suspect some of them will spend Halloween next weekend stealing candy from kids. Kevin was out by 1903 with a line reading 4-2-0.

Karma visited one of them, the German, Amanda Baumgartner. She piled on by denying Kevin Sweden. (A feat she actually achieved diplomatically. Kevin held in the Gulf of Bothnia, conceding Sweden to her.) Amanda was at seven by the end of 1902, but that was her highwater mark. By 1907, she had joined Kevin on the sidelines.

The Austrian, Brandon Fogel, reaped most of the rewards from the rape of Russia. He finished with nine centers, sharing topping honors with the Brit, Jake Trotta.

The Undercard, our club's 284th game, ended by draw vote in Spring 1909 in the following center counts:

Fargo started up last night at the Red Lion just as Diplomacy was ending. It was the perfect nightcap to another great evening of Dip and Drinks.

There are lots of reasons why the Lion has become our home for Red Wednesdays: (And we're pleased to announce that the popular event will be back in 2016! Join us on the second Wednesday of every month.)

The easy street parking.

The proximity to the el.

The friendly staff.

The excellent fare.

The fine selection of beer.

The interesting decor.

I'd put the movies on that list, too. Joe, the barkeep and owner, has great taste in films.

Anyway, Game No. 283 ended by draw vote in Spring 1906. No one went to the wood chipper. The final center counts were:

We were rehashing Game No. 282 in Peter Lokken's backyard in Logan Square. I had just been accused of sabotaging a Key Lepanto back in Fall 1901 and was explaining what actually happened. I was eloquent, perhaps, but unconvincing, apparently, because Geoff Serednesky shut me down with the quote of the night.

"Jim," he said, "the game's over. You can stop lying."

Fortunately for me, I was much more convincing during the game. We called it early after the Fall 1905 turn. The final center counts were:

This was our third game of young Season 11, and we've already had 19 different players participate. Ray Trotta was the latest new recruit. Jake and Ian's father, Ray got a brief rules explanation from Jake on the drive to Peter's. Fortunately, Matt Sundstrom stopped by to watch the game and enjoy the fall evening, so we appointed him Ray's advisor. He answered questions and helped ensure that Ray wrote his orders correctly.

We had another strong showing from the class of Season 10. Jake was joined on the board by classmates Brandon and Geoff. The board was rounded out by vets.

The game itself was an impromptu addition to the schedule. We posted it last week, and it filled in 23 minutes. Peter wants to host another one this Saturday.

In a classic case of good news and bad news, he has some time on his hands. He's on leave for a couple of weeks as he recovers from successful brain surgery to remove a tumor. His recovery is going much better than his game went, and I'd encourage you to show up for Saturday's game if only to check out his scar.

Brian Beck's football-themed house game today in Morton Grove was a hit (the good kind, not the kind that leaves you laid out!). Our second game of the season and 281st overall ended by time limit after the Fall 1906 turn in the following center counts:

Check out the supply center chart here. Brian will post an endgame statement in the comments section below. Perhaps some of the other players will share their thoughts as well.

In the meantime, here are mine.

As I've noted elsewhere, we had 38 people play with us for the first time in Season 10. Season 11 is just two games old, and already six of them have played. (And by the way, we've had 14 unique players in our first two games, which is awesome. That's exactly what we want to see when we hold two games in the same week.)

This time around, it was Ali Adib, Andre Dankha, David Spanos and Brian Beck. Brian joined the club in June and is already on the Sneak and hosting games. And David recruited his roommate, Yash Niuam, to play. Yash is our fourth new recruit so far this year and is also, I believe, the second Indian national to play with us. Andre, meanwhile, was one of Ali's recruits last year.

So, the future is starting to look bright again. We're bringing in lots of new faces, and they're starting to host games and recruit for us.

The next game is a month away--October 14 at the Red Lion. Unless we work something in before then. Anyone else have the itch?

It was a nice start to the new season. Three of the players--Yates, Clarke and Kodeski--were new to the club, and two of them had never played before. And we also picked up a prospect from among the four spectators.

A high school buddy of mine was in town on business. He played Dip with me a few times in the '90s and was really interested in the game. When he left, he told me he'd plan a future business trip around a Red Wednesday so he could play with us.

So, we're off. The next game is Sunday at Brian Beck's home in Morton Grove. And we'll be back at the Red Lion on October 14.

Brandon Fogel has now shared or topped outright five of the last six boards he's played. His convincing top in the penultimate Red Wednesday of the season earlier this week ran his league-leading top count to 5.5. In club history, that's second only to Peter Lokken's 7.5 tops in Season 6.

Wednesday's game ended by time limit after the Fall 1906 turn in the following center counts:

While the seven of them played, Ben DiPaola, Brian Shelden and I taught the game to a walk-up named Kyle, who then spent a couple of hours watching the adjudications and listening in on negotiations. Hopefully we'll see him again.

And hopefully we'll see more of you at Pete McNamara's home on July 30 -- he's shooting for two boards -- and at the final Red Wednesday of Season 11 on August 10. Find game openings here.

What do you do when five rounds and 52 boards of Diplomacy just isn't quite enough to slake your thirst for the game? Why, you back it up with a bar game, that's what you do.

On June 29, just three days after the smoke cleared on WDC, we gathered at the Red Lion in Lincoln Square with some of our out-of-town guests for one final act of Diplomacy. Game No. 304, our fourth league game of the busy month of June, ended by time limit after the Fall 1907 turn in the following center counts:

After a somewhat rocky landing on the Chicago scene, veteran traveler Brian Shelden now finds himself in second place in the Season 11 standings. Tim Jones, meanwhile, is a visiting Australian and webDiplomacy.net luminary who played five rounds at WDC and whose extended stay and desire for just "one more wafer" was the impetus for this game. Sean Nolen is Siobhan's husband. He flew into town after WDC to tour the city with Siobhan but jumped at the opportunity to play a friendly bar game with us.

Special thanks to all the locals who threw this game together at a moment's notice to allow some of our traveling friends to experience one of our world famous bar games. Diplomacy is a selfish game played, for the most part, by selfless people.